The present invention relates generally to water filtration apparatus, and more particularly relates to improvements in reverse osmosis water filtration systems.
Reverse osmosis water filtration systems for home use are typically located under the countertop or sink in the kitchen. Those that are located on the countertop are connected to a kitchen sink faucet and are operative to receive a flow of tap water, remove undesirable chemicals, such as chlorine, from the tap water, and deliver a flow of purified drinking water utilizing a reverse osmosis filter structure and various pre-filter and post-filter apparatus.
Typical reverse osmosis filtration units of this general type have been subject to various well-known problems, limitations and disadvantages. For example, they are often characterized by inordinately slow purified water output flow rates which require a substantial, and often inconvenient lead time between the initiation of water filtration and the accumulation of a useful quantity of cleansed, better tasting drinking water. As an example, many home filtration units presently available are capable of producing only about six to eight gallons of purified drinking water per day, while some commercially available units fall considerably short of that output rate.
Additionally, while many conventional home reverse osmosis water filtration units are designed to permit the homeowner to change out various filter elements of the unit at the end of their useful lives, in practice this is not a particularly easy or convenient task. The difficulty arises primarily through the construction and interconnection of the filter assemblies. Typically, each filter assembly has a cylindrical housing, with screw-on end caps, within which a removable filter structure is removably disposed. The individual filter assemblies are interconnected by flexible hoses with wrench-operable disconnect fittings at their opposite ends.
Thus, to remove and replace the filter structure within a given housing it is necessary to use a wrench (or other tool) to disconnect the housing from the balance of the filtration system, remove one of the housing end caps and remove the filter structure from within the housing. The housing interior, is then cleaned and a replacement filter structure placed therein. The removed threaded housing cap is then screwed back on the housing, and the hose fittings are wrench-tightened back onto the housing. For many homeowners, this periodic filter structure replacement is simply too tedious and inconvenient, and is thus either ignored or an expensive repairman is called to effect the necessary periodic filter element changeout.
The overall supply of tap water to the filtration system is typically effected by connecting an inlet hose to a kitchen sink faucet using a small adapter fitting. A portion of the supply water is ultimately flowed through the reverse osmosis filter element of the filtration system and, after purification, is suitably captured for later consumption. The balance of the supply water flow to the filtration system is used to continuously rinse the reverse osmosis filter element and is separately discharged from the filtration system as waste water. Such waste water discharge is typically accomplished using a flexible discharge hose that is normally draped over the side and laid in the bottom of the sink whose faucet is being used as a supply water source. As will be readily appreciated, the often lengthy presence of the discharge hose in the sink interferes with the use of the sink and presents a potentially unsanitary condition.
In view of the foregoing, it is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a reverse osmosis water filtration system, suitable for home use, which eliminates or minimizes the above-mentioned and other problems, limitations and disadvantages commonly associated with conventional reverse osmosis water filtration systems of the general type described above.